What If He's Just Bonkers?
by RandomDiversion
Summary: What if Kantarou's world is our world, where youkai exist only as stories? What if Kantarou is just nuts? Haruka is human...& still loves him.


**What If He's Just Bonkers?

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Edogawa-sama,

Thank you very much for your most recent letter. As with your area, the weather in Tokyo has been hot and muggy. I hope that you and your daughter continue to be well? As for us here, well, as you asked, that is the point, and so I shall come to it at once.

I hope you have not been unduly alarmed by Ichinomiya's most recently published fiction. As you know, what he writes may contain elements of fact, but it has been highly embellished and often bears little resemblance to events as they actually occurred. While they are very entertaining to read, please do not let his stories concern you about your son. Remember that they are written with the goal to give Ichinomiya a sense of purpose and to make money, when possible, not to record events.

This sort of encounter with the law is not unexpected in a case like your son's. Recovery is never a straight road. His troubles are not uncommon in former prisoners of war. In his case, not only does he have the issues of what the Russians did to him, but also of the initial treason which allowed the Ogre-Eaters to be captured in the first place. After being betrayed by someone in his own unit, and surviving such serious consequences of that betrayal, his condition of detachment from other people is little surprise—nor is his over-reaction to ordinary, if mildly alarming, events.

I know you have considered bringing him home as a result of this incident, but I think that would be a mistake. If I may be so bold, isolation from other people may help preserve the Edogawa family pride, but it is not going to help Rin.

Rin's paranoia has greatly improved since he arrived here in the city, and, surprisingly, I credit the friendship of my other charge, little Ichinomiya, with much of that improvement.

Ichinomiya has had a sort of hero-crush on Rin ever since the two first encountered each other on your property, the day I came up to assess Rin's case for residence here.

We may never know for certain exactly why your son decided to play along with the little man's delusions. I doubt that it started out of kindness. But, what started as a vaguely cruel amusement has lead Rin to care about Ichinomiya—at this point, perhaps the only person or thing Rin dares to care about at all. Ichinomiya seems to have somehow side-stepped all of your son's emotional defenses.

As far as Ichinomiya is concerned, Rin is his tengu, 'Haruka', and for Ichinomiya, your son answers to that name. At their best the two of them play together like children, sharing an innocent fantasy world.

But your son recognizes his friend's delusional state, and views 'Haruka' as no more than a nickname. He does understand that while currently stable, Ichinomiya's condition is unlikely to improve, and likely to worsen over time, leading eventually to conventional institutionalization.

While the Ichinomiya case is tragic, the friendship is helping Rin. Discussing what will be a gradual loss of his new friend has given Rin's doctors here a way to indirectly approach issues surrounding the loss of his unit, which they had previously been unable to discuss.

In his lucid moments, Ichinomiya also understands his own situation, and Rin's as well; he has expressed a desire to help Rin when he can. Within the framework of his delusions he has worked their eventual separation in as a 'difference in life-span between humans and youkai'. Within that overlay the two of them are actually able to discuss how they feel about that loss even when Ichinomiya is at his worst.

I think it would be a grave error to separate the two at this point—it would be another betrayal to take the object of his trust away just when Rin is taking his first cautious step toward re-connecting with other people.

Now, with that understanding, let me relate to you the events of this affair.

We were in the street markets, buying groceries and other small needs. Ichinomiya was staying rather close by me. He was hungry. We have found he thinks more clearly when he avoids starches and sugars in his food, so we were looking for a yakitori stand. Rin was lagging behind. He still has not overcome that curious obsession he has with things that sparkle, and had been distracted by a stall selling glassware.

As I stood in line for the yakitori stand, a young man stole my purse, without my notice. Both of the boys saw this. Rin, a bit at a distance, I think watched with his usual detachment. However Ichinomiya was close at hand and being of a basically good sort, wanted to help me get it back.

Being small, clever, and not inclined toward fighting, he intervened by quietly picking my purse back from the would-be thief.

I saw him do this, to my astonishment, and was about to intervene because I was shocked to see him stealing—until I recognized that what he 'stole' was, in fact, my purse, which I suddenly realized was missing from my belt.

However, Ichinomiya is not a professional at such activities, and the thief caught him with my bag. The man abruptly grabbed my purse from Ichinomiya, and struck him across the face.

It was at this point that Rin became enraged. Silent and without warning, he ran directly at the thief, who, quite understandably, fled in terror. As a former special operative of our esteemed army, Rin does not have to be a tengu to be a clear threat to life and limb when his anger is aroused.

The pursuit circled the square, and then the thief fled into a hotel, where Rin finally cornered him on a balcony in the bar on the second floor.

And that is when the police arrived.

I paused in the square to check on Ichinomiya, but he waved me off, holding the side of his face. So I then ran to catch up with Rin and the thief.

By the time I arrived at the balcony, the bar had mostly emptied itself. Rin's back was to the rail, and he was holding the thief between himself and two officers, like a hostage. One officer had his weapon drawn.

Rin of course had no weapon, but could easily have tossed the man over the side. I imagine with his military training there were other things he might have done as well.

"Oh, oh my!" I said. "What is going on here?"

"Stay back, ma'am."

"Officers, he is with me—Rin, I mean—the one in the back."

"Who are you?"

"I'm his care-giver. He's been a bit 'off', since the war. He's here to be near his doctors."

"Shoot him, he's going to kill me!" wailed the thief.

"Shut up," Rin said.

"Rin, let him go," I said, "We'll get this cleared up."

"Not until he puts down his weapon."

"I'll put down my weapon when you let him go," said the officer. "Ma'am, do you know what happened here?"

"Yes, well..."

That is when Ichinomiya caught up with us. He seemed a little dazed—I think hallucinating rather than from the blow. He wandered obliviously onto the balcony almost right up to Rin and the thief, seemingly ignorant of their conflict.

With his pale skin and white clothing, he reminded me of a puff of down, or a seed's parachute, floating randomly onto the balcony on a wisp of air. His white skin vividly showed the red shape of a man's hand across one cheek, and there was just a trace of blood along his lips.

"You, get..." one of the officers stepped toward Ichinomiya, but stopped when Ichinomiya spoke.

"That man," he interrupted calmly, gesturing daintily toward the thief, "stole Youko's purse."

"He's lying. That one," the thief pointed at Ichinomiya, "stole my bag from me!"

"It was Youko's bag. I tried to retrieve it," Ichinomiya said. "But, he hit me." He touched his cheek, "Did it leave a mark?"

"Ichinomiya-sensei," I said, addressing him far more formally in front of the officer than is our habit at home, "your mouth is bleeding."

Rin was staring at Ichinomiya with a kind of horror—the kind a man wears when a friend is in danger and he is helpless to assist. I think he expected the police officers to behave like Russian soldiers, and that his little friend was going to get shot.

"I bit my tongue," he said absently, his eyes wandering over Rin, "It's nothing."

"Where is this 'bag'?" asked the armed officer—the senior of the two.

Rin woke from staring at Ichinomiya, gripped his hostage more firmly with one hand, then tossed my bag onto the floor between himself and the younger policeman.

Meanwhile Ichinomiya's gentle drift, by rather suspicious coincidence, took him between Rin and the elder, armed officer.

"You—sensei—get back here!" said the elder policeman.

"Why?" said Ichinomiya. He turned and blinked his pink eyes at the officers in complete bafflement. "Haruka always listens to me."

The younger officer retrieved my bag.

"Haruka?" echoed the officer with the gun.

"A nickname," I said, gingerly approaching the younger officer as he looked inside my purse. There was money, still, and a few such things as a woman carries with her when she is at market. Certainly it did not contain the belongings of a man. "The professor is also in my care," I said softly, "Let him be. They are friends...he may help..."

"Professor?" echoed the senior officer again.

"He was," I said, "before he fell ill."

"Haruka, if you fly away now the whole city will see. You won't be able to show your face in town again, you know," said Ichinomiya.

Rin looked at the officers, and at me, and for an instant blushed brightly. Then his expression changed from one of desperation to one of patient indulgence, as one might show to a small child.

"Sensei believes Rin is a tengu," I murmured. "Rin humors him."

"Ah..." muttered the officers, each with a trace of a smirk.

"Kantarou?"

"He's just a man, Haruka. Well, a thief—and a mean one—but he is not an ogre. Let him go. The officers will take him. I am okay. Youko has her purse..."

"He hit you."

"I've had worse. You know that. Come now, let him go."

"Let me go," said the thief.

"Shut up," said Ichinomiya to the thief.

"But..." started Rin.

"Haruka?" Ichinomiya said, fondly, but with a touch of warning to his voice.

"Don't let them put me in a cage..." Rin muttered.

"The Russians tortured him for two years," I muttered to the police, "and held him after the war as a political bargaining chip."

"They are police. A human thing, you know. Maybe a few days, is all, right? It is what they do to humans who fight in the street, " continued Ichinomiya.

"Political?" muttered the younger officer.

"Rin's family is well-positioned..."

"I don't know," said the older officer, guardedly. I could tell he was calculating whether 'well-positioned' meant this incident was going to hurt his career. "It depends how things turn out."

"To continue only makes it worse," said Ichinomiya. "You know that. So, let him go—Haruka."

Within the context of Ichinomiya's delusions, this constitutes a direct order, and his 'tengu' is supposed to be magically bound to obey. When Rin ignores this kind of statement, Ichinomiya tends to throw a tantrum. I think Rin was already concerned for Ichinomiya's safety from the officers. So he responded to keep Ichinomiya from acting out.

"Well..." Rin sighed. "I have to 'obey my master's orders', don't I?" He smiled a little, embarrassed. His eyes met the senior officer's, and the officer hesitantly lowered his weapon.

Rin let go of the thief, and as the man bolted for escape, Rin tripped him with his foot, so that the thief landed hard on his face on the balcony floor, splitting his lip. The elder officer descended on the man and cuffed him.

Rin then seemed to curl in on himself in submission, offering his hands toward the younger officer to be cuffed. He was shaking. I have to wonder if 'saving' Ichinomiya in this way recalled any of the events that occurred during his capture and imprisonment by the Russians.

"He won't be any problem," Ichinomiya said confidently.

"Will you?" the officer asked Rin.

Rin shook his head, "no". The young man cuffed him cautiously and began to lead him away. Ichinomiya followed closely.

"Keep back," said the officer.

"I'm coming too," said Ichinomiya.

"You're not under arrest."

"Ah, well," said Ichinomiya. "Suppose the crazy little man bites you. Then can I come? Or, you can just tell them I did..." he grinned.

The officer chuckled, and looked at me for input.

I shrugged. "They're better behaved together. I think you can see that."

Sometimes Ichinomiya's is a very endearing sort of insanity.

"All right. You can follow along. In any case, we'll need all of your statements about what happened," he said, looking between me and Ichinomiya.

Rin appeared extremely relieved to have Ichinomiya's company.

I re-joined them at the station, and as you know after taking our statements and speaking with Rin's doctor, they decided not to charge Rin with any crime. He was only trying to defend Ichinomiya, and to retrieve my purse; he is not randomly going about picking fights.

And, as you see, the thief was only injured by his own stupidity in trying to escape. Had Rin not tripped him, the man might well have wound up being hurt more seriously during a subsequent police pursuit.

So please, do not be troubled by how this turned out. Your son may have over-reacted, but not in a way you need be ashamed of. His actions were a reflection of his good character, if a bit more broad than was needed. This incident is, if anything, a hopeful sign—an indication of his growing re-connection with the flow of humanity, and of beginning to care again about those things to which he had become indifferent. And you can see his friendship with this odd little fellow Ichinomiya is playing an important role in his recovery.

I hope it will become convenient to you to visit your son here sometime soon. We will all enjoy seeing you, and despite this incident I think you will be pleased with Rin's progress. As always you are welcome to come whenever you wish, although we can show you more worthy hospitality if you let us know in advance when you will arrive.

What Ichinomiya's written version of these events will be, is anybody's guess. So do not let that fantasy alarm you if it is accepted for print.

I thank you for your continued patronage and Rin's participation in this progressive work in treating cases like his and like Ichinomiya's outside of a conventional asylum.

I pray for the health and prosperity of all your family.

Your obedient servant,

Youko


End file.
